Friday Update Number Six

Posted on 7 May 2020

A slightly earlier update this week as tomorrow is a Bank Holiday and we will all be taking the opportunity to take some time away from our computers and (hopefully) enjoy some fine spring weather.

Last week we announced that the first of our Retreat hospital case book indexes had been made available on Borthcat. We have continued our work on the remaining indexes this week and we’re thrilled to report that they are now available on Borthcat in their entirety. This new resource includes patient indexes for case books 1-24A, from the very first patients admitted to The Retreat in 1796 through to the 1920s, and patient indexes for two further case books of voluntary boarders at the hospital between 1895 and c 1935. This work would not have been possible without the sterling efforts of our volunteers from the City of York and District Family History Society who have spent years compiling indexes for The Retreat, Bootham, and Clifton Hospitals.

The new indexes record names, ages, marital status, occupation, date of hospital admission (and any previous admissions), date of death or discharge and any reported next of kin, providing a wealth of easily accessible information for our users. You can browse the patient case books and case books of voluntary boarders or search for a specific name using our searchbox. Let us know what you discover!

Alongside this new resource we have added a further full catalogue to Borthcat, this time with a very close link to the Borthwick itself. The Records of Canon John Stanley Purvis provide a fascinating insight into the wide ranging interests and eventful life of our first Director of Archives. War poet, churchman, archivist, and scholar, Canon Purvis played an integral role in our foundation in York and, incidentally, drew the pig which has become our logo!